On August 14th, I finally vested my first block of incentive shares of PayPal stock that I got when I agreed to work here. Back in the days of being married, I remember how happy Stephanie was to have vested, and I’m sort of recalling that feeling and understanding the true nature of that whole realization. I’ll admit that I was keeping an eye on the PYPL ticker over here at work and on my Yahoo home page at home, but now it’s an everyday thing with me. Every morning, I have Yahoo page me with the PYPL price at the opening bell, and then every two hours I get an update on how well my stock is doing. FYI, we closed at 20.30 up almost a half point from opening.
In watching the stock market, though, I can totally see how easy it is to get slightly emotional at the rise and fall of a stock’s trade value. I was cheering and lamenting, all in the span of five minutes. I stopped to take “stock” in my behavior and laughed my ass off at how I got so sucked into it. I mean, before August 14th, it was simply a passing curiosity; I would just check the closing bell results and either smile or frown, but I never quite got into it. Now that the shares are officially granted to me, I now have a financial stake. So unless the shares go below a buck, I still end up making money if I sell. Of course, now I’ve begun researching capital gains tax like it was my only educational goal in life. Reading up on the changes, how it applies, how it’ll affect me come tax time, etc, etc, etc. And this is really important information to know and keep in mind when you’re dealing with a couple thousand shares of stock and the potential to make tens of thousands of dollars with the click of a mouse button. But enough about the stock crap. I’m waiting until PayPal either gets bought by eBay or the stock hits 30.00+ to sell. I’m using that money to pay taxes and then go to Japan.
In more important news, I think I may have found a place to live. Todd and I found an apartment building over by the Westgate shopping mall. It’s in that little tri-city border area of Campbell, San Jose, and Saratoga. Everything is in walking distance. Shopping mall, grocery store, movie theatre, arcades, DDR… it’s kind of nice. We filed our applications yesterday, and according to the apartment building manager, we were pretty much assured the apartment. As for the apartment itself, it’s a two bedroom, one bath place, with a pretty spacious living room. The bedrooms are kind of meager-looking, and Todd’s room is even smaller than mine (his is 9 by 11, mine is 12 by 10). But he’s excited and I’m excited, so we’re both excited to be rooming together again. We’ve already done the research on the important things (by order of importance): Internet access, phone line, food. Due to the proximity of the building to the central office, we’re able to get a 1.5megabit/384kbps ADSL line installed as soon as we get the phone line installed. The phone line will get ordered as soon as we sign the paperwork for the rental. And then Safeway is across the street, so we’ll have food.
Parting news: Stephanie got served. She signed and returned the papers, et voila! Six month countdown begins soon.
2 comments
Just thought I’d drop a little post to say Hi since I added yah ;} Well, basically added you since you’ve got an interest in Japanese stuff ;D T’care and will be looking forward to your journal entries. Laterz then!
*chuckle* Greetings. My journal entries usually end up being nothing more than a rant platform 😉 But thanks and welcome. 🙂
— ZC